Retro Review - Risky Woods

The game I will talk about today is one of the most conventional platformer, which was developed by a Spanish company, has several versions: Amiga, AtariST, PC Two and Mega Drive and although the first three versions are somewhat similar except that in terms of the graphical aspect varies a little, the Mega Drive version is the one that has more changes, both in the character, which has a very different design to the other version and also a change quite evident in the interface, but despite these differences, they are still the same game. I think the best version is the Amiga version, which was the one I played, along with the Mega Drive.

Today's Retro Review is about: Risky Woods.

Within a fantasy world, with magic and creatures belonging to this type of theme, the game introduces us to Rohan Young a young man (looking like Rambo in most versions of the game, but in the Mega Drive version uses a kind of white robe), whose mission is to save the monks who have been turned to stone, in addition to saving the inhabitants of the kingdom as the creatures have eliminated and captured many of them. All this in a great adventure of medieval fantasy style. One of those games that despite having a simple story, like the vast majority of games in this style, especially in games from a few years ago, are still so entertaining that they last over time, since basically the plot focuses on the classic mission of salvation and in which there is always a hero who will be in charge of fulfilling it.

The versions of Amiga, AtariST, PC Two vary little with respect to the graphical aspect, although the Amiga version, I consider that looks better, even compared to the Mega Drive which is later, but in terms of interface the first 3 versions remain the same, as well as the character design, which as I also said, in these versions Rohan Young looks like Rambo, while in the Mega Drive version completely changes its design, looking more like a monk, with white robes. I'll leave you a comparison video between these 4 versions (In fact, I like more the look of the main character in the Mega Drive version).

But in general terms, Risky Woods has a very decent style and graphics, the sprites of the characters are relatively large and although they do not have so many details that make them shine especially, they look good on screen. The scenery is also fine, they are not spectacular, but they manage to adequately recreate a medieval fantasy world. In addition to a wide variety of places to go through, with their respective details and characteristic elements such as forests, villages and other buildings. But as I said several times, I consider that the Amiga version, which was the one I played, along with the Mega Drive version (although this version I only played a little since I completed the Amiga version), is the one that I consider that has better appearance, better graphic quality and better colors on screen, however the Mega Drive version is also quite good. But in general terms, all the versions are pretty good.

The music is pretty good, many of them with fast rhythms and melodies that you would expect from a game of this style, however, I feel that some melodies do not fit with the theme and look of the game, yes, they are good melodies and of good quality, but in terms of fitting with the whole visual aspect and plot of the game, I think they do not fit very well. Still, overall, it's a good soundtrack, which has few tunes, but they serve their purpose.

Basically Risky Woods is a fairly conventional platform game, where the main objective besides eliminating the enemies that appear on the screen is to make the petrified monks return to normality. These monks are scattered throughout the 12 stages that this game has to offer. In terms of mechanics it is simple, controlling our character will not be a difficult task, however, the jumping mechanics of our character is a bit clumsy, it is not as "fluid" as other games of this style, so sometimes it can be a little frustrating, but not so much that we kick the game.

We will move laterally along a good amount of scenarios, full of enemies of different types, there is a decent amount of enemy types, plus we will also have the typical fights against final bosses. Also, throughout the scenarios we can find chests that contain items that will help us in different aspects, some will give us points, others will make us recover our life bar, but there are also trap chests. There is even an item that recovers our life, but in return our character will fall asleep for some time, therefore, while he is sleeping, time will continue to run, so we can heal, but in return we will have less time to complete the stage.

Risky Woods is one of those games that I had never heard or read about, but in the end it turned out to be quite an entertaining product.